Hundreds reach out to house Ukrainian refugees in Harrogate
Harrogate District of Sanctuary have been inundated with requests for help and advice on how to support a refugee
People in Harrogate are flooding charities with requests wanting to know how to host Ukrainian refugees.
Harrogate District of Sanctuary have had hundreds of messages from residents who want to step up and help those who have fled the war torn country.
The group have supported dozens refugees who have come to the district from Afghanistan and Syria.
Dennis Brickles, Harrogate District of Sanctuary trustee, said:
"The situation has been, not just fluid, but quite honestly chaotic over the last week or two. There has been a huge upsurge of interest from people wanting to house a refugee family but not knowing any or having any family in Ukraine to sponsor, or people who do have family but don't have enough space in their home to house them.
"We're not surprised that there has been this upsurge. It's a major, European war and the biggest in our continent since World War Two and there are potentially four million refugees being displaced. It's incumbent on our country to step up and take on people in that situation."
But many who have been trying to sponsor families have spoken of the bureaucracy around the Home for Ukraine process, saying there is too much "red tape" to cross.
Mr Brickles, added:
"It's very frustrating for people. If people want to bring a family to live with them but they don't have any contacts then they're having to go through Homes for Ukraine. It's extremely slow and people are waiting a long time for their visas. Until they have those visas, they can't do anything.
"More needs to be done to speed the process along because these people are desperate."
In a statement the Government said:
“We are moving as quickly as possible to ensure that those fleeing Ukraine can find safety in the UK through the Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine.
“We have streamlined the process so valid passport holders do not have to attend in-person appointments before arriving in the UK, simplified our forms and boosted caseworker numbers, while ensuring vital security checks are carried out.
“We continue to speed up visa processing across both schemes, with 25,500 visa issued in the last three weeks alone and thousands more expected to come through these uncapped routes.”